Pilot Project Success: Daabon Achieves 14% Soil Amendment Optimization and Sustainable Practices with Cultivate’s Precision Platform

Published: 21/05/2025

Daabon, a family-owned Colombian agricultural leader with a century-long tradition, sought to enhance the sustainability and efficiency of its large-scale oil palm operations. Facing challenges with traditional soil data collection and fertilization methods across its 26,000-hectare estate, Daabon partnered with Cultivate Agri.

By implementing Cultivate’s integrated precision agriculture platform, which leverages AI, advanced satellite imagery (via partner AgroAP), and ground-level data, Daabon achieved a 14% optimization in soil amendment applications. This data-driven approach not only improved operational efficiency and reduced waste but also strengthened Daabon’s commitment to ethical and environmentally sound farming practices, transforming their crop management for maximized productivity and sustainability.

Daabon - Colombian Agricultural Heritage at Scale

Customer Profile

Operating out of Colombia, Daabon is a large, family-owned agricultural company managing 26,000 hectares, with a primary focus on oil palm. With deep roots spanning over 100 years, the company places a significant emphasis on exceeding industry standards for ethical and sustainable practices, making this a core tenet of their identity and operations.

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    Plantation Name

    Daabon Group

    Founded in 1914 and headquartered in Santa Marta, Colombia, this family-owned company employs over 5,000 people and operates across four continents.

    Location

    Colombia

    The initiative was implemented within Daabon's extensive oil palm estates located in Colombia.

    Ownership Structure

    Family-Owned

    Reflecting a long-term perspective and commitment to core values across generations.

    Operational Scale

    1,500 Hectares

    The precision agriculture and AI solutions were applied across this significant area of their oil palm operations.

    Primary Crop

    Oil Palm

    While Daabon cultivates diverse crops, this project concentrated on optimizing fertilization for their large-scale oil palm plantations

    Core Challenge

    Enhance Fertilization Efficiency

    To improve nutrient application accuracy, optimize resource use, reduce environmental impact, and gain better insights into soil/plant health across vast areas, aligning with their ethical ethos.

The Challenge

Scaling Precision and Sustainability

See Results

Daabon faced significant hurdles in managing its vast oil palm plantations effectively:

  1. Inefficient Data Gathering:ย Collecting accurate soil and plant health data across 26,000 hectares using traditional ground methods was extremely time-consuming, labour-intensive, and costly.

  2. Suboptimal Fertilization:ย Decisions on fertilizer type and application rates lacked the precision needed for optimal plant health and yield, leading to potential waste and inconsistent results.

  3. Environmental Impact Concerns:ย Aligning with their sustainability goals required minimizing the environmental risks associated with inefficient fertilization, demanding better soil management insights.

Daabon needed a more efficient, accurate, and scalable solution to optimize fertilization, improve plantation health, and uphold its environmental commitments.

The Solution

The Cultivate-Agri Integrated Platform

Cultivate-Agri provided a comprehensive solution combining its central platform with cutting-edge precision agriculture technologies.

  • Duration: 6 Months (Implementation & Initial Monitoring of Pilot Project areaโ€)

  • Timeline:

    • Months 1-2:ย System Design & Hardware Installation

    • Months 2-3:ย Software Configuration, Data Integration & Staff Training

    • Months 4-12 (still ongoing):ย System Monitoring, Data Analysis & Performance Optimization

  • Centralized Data Hub (Cultivate-Agri Platform)

    Acting as the core repository, the platform integrated diverse data streams โ€“ from satellite imagery and ground-level agronomic inputs (including pre-existing data and mobile app collection) to sensor data.

  • Calibration of vegetation indices for monitoring crop development

    In partnership with AgroAP, ultra-high-resolution satellite imagery (optical and radar) provided precise data on vegetation cover, health, density, and vigor. This fed into iteratively trained AI models to detect subtle patterns.

  • AI-Powered Analytics Engine

    AgroAP’s AI engine analyzed the combined geospatial and numerical data, computing vegetation indexes and biomass estimates with increasing precision. It identified trends and patterns, sharpening predictive capabilities for data-driven agronomic decisions.

  • Dynamic Nutrient Management

    The platform dynamically adjusted nutrient application recommendations based on continuously validated AI insights and learned soil responses. This ensured fertilizers and amendments were prescribed efficiently โ€“ applying only what was needed, where it was needed.

  • Precision Application & Management

    Recommendations (including cost implications) were delivered to farm managers via dashboards and work orders. Controlled application using fixed-rate, variable-rate, or Differentiated Management Zone (DMZ) strategies was enabled via application monitors, allowing strategic adjustments for soil acidity and nutrient plans.

Technology Features Deployed:

  • Cultivate-Agri Platform

  • AgroAP Integration

  • Field Implementation

  • Cultivate-Agri Platform

    Technology Implemented

    The core of the solution was the cloud-based Cultivate-Agri platform, serving as a central command center established through precise plantation geolocation mapping.

    It streamlined operations management by enabling digital work order creation and tracking, while its key strength lay in integrating diverse data sources โ€“ seamlessly connecting AgroAP’s satellite intelligence with Daabon’s existing agronomic measurements and historical data.

    Field data collection was modernized via a mobile app, with all synthesized information presented on real-time dashboards, empowering managers with tools for effective monitoring, trend analysis, and informed decision-making.

  • AgroAP Integration

    Technology Implemented

    To provide a comprehensive overhead perspective, the solution integrated AgroAP’s advanced capabilities, utilizing satellite biomass measurement with both optical sensors for surface vegetation analysis and radar sensors for structural insights beneath the canopy.

    The complex data collected was processed by AgroAP’s sophisticated AI engine, specifically trained to detect subtle patterns, correlations, and anomalies related to plant health, density, and vigor across the estate.

    This AI-driven analysis generated critical intelligence, which directly informed the recommendations made by the central Cultivate-Agri platform.

    High resolution maps of soil composition are created for over 25 different nutrients and parameters. These are complemented with spectral imagining and physical inspections (recorded using Cultivate mobile app) to understand the evolution in the growth of palms.
  • Field Implementation

    Technology Implemented

    Translating digital insights into physical action required key field components, including strategically placed ground sensors and automated weather stations to capture real-time local conditions and validate satellite data.

    Critically, specialized application monitors fitted to farm machinery enabled the controlled and precise distribution of fertilizers and soil amendments, ensuring application rates accurately matched the platform’s directives for fixed-rate, variable-rate, or differentiated management zone strategies.

    For this aspect of the project, AgroAP were the primary provider ofย precision agriculture agronomy consulting services

    High resolution maps of soil composition are created for over 25 different nutrients and parameters. These are complemented with spectral imagining and physical inspections (recorded using Cultivate mobile app) to understand the evolution in the growth of palms.

Quantifiable Gains and Strategic Benefits

Measurable Impact, Sustainable Growth

The partnership with Cultivate and the adoption of its advanced AI and precision agriculture platform resulted in substantial, quantifiable improvements for Daabon's large-scale oil palm operation. Transitioning to a data-driven management approach yielded significant gains in resource efficiency, operational effectiveness, and environmental stewardship, directly addressing Daabon's core challenges. The key benefits realized include:

Real-time dashboards allow farm managers to view costed recommendations by location and subsequently monitor the effects of those recommendations as they are followed
Real-time dashboards allow farm managers to view costed recommendations by location and subsequently monitor the effects of those recommendations as they are followed
Real-time dashboards allow farm managers to view costed recommendations by location and subsequently monitor the effects of those recommendations as they are followed

Optimized Resource Use

Achieved a 14% optimization in soil amendment applications, enhancing resource efficiency while reducing waste and costs.

Strategic Crop Management

Enabled a shift from traditional methods to a data-driven fertilization strategy aligned with climate and resource availability.

Targeted Zone Intervention

Identified specific plantation zones with unique moisture, acidity, and nutrient profiles for precise, targeted treatments.

Improved Operational Efficiency

Streamlined data gathering and analysis processes, delivering actionable insights to farm managers via real-time dashboards.

Strengthened Sustainability

Reduced environmental risks associated with fertilization through more accurate application, supporting Daabon's sustainability goals.

Adaptive Future Growth

Implemented a self-learning AI system that ensures ongoing optimization of farming practices and yields over time.

Schedule a Demo Today!

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  • Personalized Experience: We'll tailor the demo to your specific needs and challenges, focusing on the features that matter most to you.
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